Nancy Hathaway wrote:

I've enclosed a photo of a lookout tower in Eastern Oregon. My family has visited it for many years, but like so many other fire towers, it's rotting away and so we can no longer climb it. I wouldn't be surprised if the next time that we visit, we find it's been torn down as a safety measure.

That's what makes me so enthusiastic about the plan to turn the Cougar Pass Lookout into a museum-like destination for people to learn about this part of Oregon's heritage. What a unique and wonderful way to convert a dangerous building into an Oregon treasure.

Mic Todd wrote:

My wife and I also believe preserving this tower (and others like it) would be an important of preserving our heritage. We drove under the tower yesterday (April 05, 2020) as we passed on our way to the former location of the Dean Mtn. tower for a picnic lunch, coming from the Ash Valley area. It was good to see the tower still standing, the Bateman lookout and Dean Mtn tower both gone now.

While visiting the South Umpqua river area recently (before the Covid-19 virus restrictions) we spoke with two ladies manning the Ranger station there. They gave us a pamphlet of some of the various watch towers in the area that are now actually available to be rented out to the public for overnight stays. Again, this was before the Shelter in Place order, but when it lifts my wife and I intend to perhaps reserve one. It would be wonderful to see the Cougar Pass tower be restored and utilized in the same way - rented out to the public by reservation. What a place to sky-watch at night!

Ethan Howard wrote:

This site is a very well written and educational piece, it has very distinct plans, history, and location. Any information that you would need in regards to this lookout can be easily found with this site. As a brand new visitor of the site I feel as if there was no information that I wanted to know that I could not easily access. All around it was a great source of information for all sorts of visitors.

My suggestions on how to improve the current condition of the site would be to get more people visiting the location. This is now my second year living in Coos Bay and attending SWOCC. It wasn't until today that I found out that this place even existed and now I am very fascinated and want to visit as soon as I can. I believe that if more people knew about this spot, there would be countless more supports of rebuilding this lookout.

Kevin Ballard wrote:

I believe this website does a great job at explaining the past, present, and future plans for the Cougar Pass Lookout. As the only remaining fire lookout tower in the Elliot State Forest it would be a tragedy to see this piece of history destroyed. I believe that if more people in the community were aware of the Cougar Pass Lookout and were able to see the plans created to bring the lookout back to life it would generate more support. This website provides the information needed to educate our community about the lookout and gain the support needed to follow through with the plans that have been created for the restoration of Cougar Pass Lookout.

M. Quinn wrote:

The preservation of this lookout tower is an important improvement to outdoor recreation in Coos county. I hope to see it resurrected soon. This website provided answers to all my questions I could have had, as well as a very nicely drawn up plan for construction so put a picture to the vision laid out.

As an Oregon native, born and raised in Curry county, I am a solid advocate for saving any of our natural history. There are so many places that have gone to the birds (so to speak) and I think it is important for future generations to have places that are not only historically informative, but provide folks an encouraging reason to get outside and explore. If more people knew of this location, there would be a lot of people supporting its revamp. Although personally I have not been to this location, I look forward to visiting as soon as possible.

Regan Lavoie wrote:

I think this website is very well put together and was extremely informative. I had no idea that this lookout was out there even though I grew up in Scottsburg and I am very excited by the possibility that the tower might be restored. I really liked the current restoration proposal because it would be a great way to safely observe a piece of Oregon history, and the idea of having a cabin that create a source of revenue is a fantastic idea.

I think that once the Loon Lake resort area opens again, if this proposal was shown to the patrons there, it would gather a lot of support. I have family members from up north that have to book their campsites months in advance just for a campsite, I think as long as people knew that it was there that cabin would be almost guaranteed to fully booked every summer.

Evan Johnson wrote:

I love how easy to navigate and full this website is. Everything flows well and I can find any information that I need very quickly. The past, present, and future plans are all well explained and in-depth. As a piece of Oregon history I am excited about the idea of preserving this tower. The more easy to access and well advertised a landmark is, the more the community can interact with it and grow together.